Sports in Kansas City

Kansas City Metropolitan Area has a long history of sports, which has included national championship teams and championship title events.

Current teams

Past teams

Future teams

With the construction of the new Sprint Center arena, Kansas City is hoping to land an NHL and/or NBA franchise as the premier tenant for the new arena in the near future, while the ABA has already announced the Spartans to play in the 08-09 season.

porting events

*Kansas City is often the home of the Big 12 College Basketball Tournaments. Men's Basketball is played at Kemper Arena, while women's Basketball is played at Municipal Auditorium. Lately newer arenas in Dallas and Oklahoma City have hosted the tournament.

*Arrowhead Stadium serves as the venue for various intercollegiate football games. Often it is the host of the Big 12 Football Title Game. On the last weekend in October, the Fall Classic rivalry game between Northwest Missouri State University and Pittsburg State University takes place here. Usually, the Bearcats of Northwest and Gorillas of Pitt State are ranked one-two in the MIAA conference. In 2005, other games at Arrowhead included Arkansas State playing host to Missouri, and Kansas hosting Oklahoma.

*Kansas Speedway, located in Kansas City, Kansas, hosts many auto racing events, including one annual race in all three of NASCAR's national series (Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series, and Craftsman Truck Series), as well as a race in the IndyCar Series.

*Kansas City is also set to host an MLB All-Star Game at Kauffman Stadium between 2010 and 2012. In 2006, Kansas City was awarded Super Bowl XLIX, but a vote for a rolling roof to be put over Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadiums was voted down, eliminating that possibility.

ports headquarters

Kansas City and nearby Overland Park, Kansas were once the home of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and has hosted ten men's final fours, more than any other city. However, with recent men's final fours taking place in indoor football stadiums (notably the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis in April 2005), Kansas City will be unable to host an 11th Final Four due to the NCAA's requirement starting with the 1997 tournament that all Final Four venues have a minimum seating capacity of 30,000.

In recognition of Kansas City's ten final fours, the National Association of Basketball Coaches are based in the city, and will operate a full-time museum in the new Sprint Center when it opens in 2007.

Kansas City is home to the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association, a NCAA Division II conference of ten schools in Missouri and Kansas.

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics was formed in Kansas City, and its current headquarters is in suburban Olathe. The national basketball tournament for the NAIA takes place each year in Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium.